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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cropped-recruitment-revolution-site-icon-32x32.pngRecruitment Revolutionhttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com
3232Questions from Outstanding Candidateshttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/questions-from-outstanding-candidates
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/questions-from-outstanding-candidates#disqus_threadTue, 02 Jun 2020 23:00:00 +0000https://dev.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/2013/05/03/questions-from-outstanding-candidates/One way that top candidates can stand out in an interview is to ask interesting and insightful questions that will get you thinking and make the interview more of a conversation. The “do you have any questions for me?” moment is a crucial stage in any interview. While it is important for you to work out if the candidate will be suitable for the role and company, it is just as important for the company to be a good fit for the candidate or you’ll struggle to keep them. Where is the business headed? Is there enough scope for progression?

This is an invaluable opportunity for a candidate to find out a bit about what your career has looked like at the business. Do you feel happy there? Do you feel that you have been given the opportunity to progress? This will give them a great insight into what it’s like working at the company and what scope there is for progression. Top candidates will know that they are in demand and it’s just as important for them to be excited about the business and its direction as it is for you to be impressed by them.

It is crucial that you recognise the extra curiosity and scrutiny that an outstanding candidate will bring to an interview. At times it might feel like you are the one being interviewed, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Pay close attention to how the candidate receives your answers. Is their body language positive? Do they engage with your responses? Or does it look more like they’ve prepared the questions just to impress you, rather than a genuine interest in the business? Are they taking notes? Often, the way they respond to your answers can tell you just as much as the questions they’ve chosen to ask.

Here are a few of the questions that a top candidate might ask in an interview.

What would I be expected to achieve in my first six weeks and what metrics do you use to measure success?

This initial period is crucial for an employee in any job and can make or break their probationary period. Candidates who want to hit the ground running and contribute effectively and immediately will want to know exactly what’s expected of them and how you will measure that. This shows they are already visualising themselves in the role and trying to get into the right mindset.

What are the main goals of the company at the moment and how will this role contribute?

Questions like this show that the candidate isn’t just thinking about their role in isolation and is already looking at how they might be able to align themselves to the company’s growth as a whole. There is a glimpse of commercial awareness in the asking of this question. This can be a tricky quality to find in candidates so it’s important to recognise it straight away. It also shows a desire to do work of real value for the company, a great sign that they are self-motivated and keen to see the results of their work.

Can you tell me more about the team I’d be working with and where this role sits within that hierarchy?

They are thinking ahead to their day-to-day life at the company and how they will fit into regular operations. They want to know in advance who they will be surrounded by, who might be there to mentor them or even be mentored by them, Perhaps they are looking for a heads-up on any big characters to watch out for. The desire to know where the role sits within the hierarchy of the team hints that they are visualising how they might be able to progress at the company.

Tell me about the traits of your top performers.

Outstanding candidates want to contribute long term and be considered top performers themselves, so identifying the common attributes of your best employees will be important to them. Getting an insight into what is important to you and what works best in the company will help them achieve this.

It will also help them gain insight into the business and how it operates. What kind of attitudes and achievements does the business reward? Do these values align with their own? Your response to this question could give them a clear idea as to whether or not the business would be a good fit for them.

Has the company faced any big challenges recently and how were they tackled?

All businesses will inevitably face challenges in one way or another. Whether it’s a shift in technology, the economy or a new competitor; all businesses will have to rise to meet a challenge. The top candidates will want to know how the business is set up to adapt and how they’d fit into that structure. If the company is less willing to evolve, it will signal to the candidate that there’s less room for progression.

For extra points, the candidate might ask about a specific industry-related challenge that is relevant to the business. This shows commercial awareness and the fact that they’ve put the time in to prepare properly for the interview.

What challenges have previous employees in this role faced?

This shows that the candidate is realistic and knows that it is highly unlikely to be plain sailing all of the time. They are planning ahead and trying to anticipate some of the problems they might encounter. They may also be trying to avoid making the same mistakes as previous employees and developing the role.

Look closely at how they respond to your answer. This can tell you a lot about whether they believe they are ready or not for some of the challenges they might face during the role.

What attracted you to working at the company and what keeps you motivated after so long?If you’ve been at the business a while, the candidate will recognise this as a great opportunity to find out more about the company, its culture and what motivates its staff. Be careful here. While the candidate is technically the one in the hot seat, if you’re already thinking about hiring them, retention should also be on your mind. Make sure you’re honest and don’t let the candidate go away with unrealistic expectations or you could be interviewing for the job again six months down the line.

If you haven’t mentioned how long you’ve been at the company and they ask this question anyway, it shows they’ve done their research beyond the role itself and have looked further into the business.

What are the training opportunities like at the company? Are these mostly internal or are there external courses available? How much time is dedicated to development?

As well as telling the candidate about their opportunities to progress, your answer will likely indicate how much the business prioritises the development of its employees. This should be a key factor for top candidates. They will, of course, want to develop their own skills and progress with their careers but factors like this can provide insight into the values of the business. How much is it willing to invest in individual employees? Does it encourage its employees to progress or are roles relatively static with long periods between promotions?

Are there any gaps in my experience or skill set that you’re concerned about?

This is a bold question showing that the candidate isn’t afraid of highlighting their weaknesses. In fact, they are looking for the opportunity to address those weaknesses head-on, showing a desire to improve.

They may very well know what your response is likely to be to this question and have prepared for it in advance. If they do not have all the qualifications or the number of years experience listed on the job spec.

Honesty and transparency are such crucial traits in candidates that they can often outweigh the downsides of not ticking all the boxes on the job spec.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/questions-from-outstanding-candidates/feed0A non recruitment post! An Example of Great Communication in Challenging Timeshttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/a-non-recruitment-post-an-example-of-great-communication-in-challenging-times
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/a-non-recruitment-post-an-example-of-great-communication-in-challenging-times#disqus_threadFri, 01 May 2020 13:40:12 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/?p=27512Over the past 5-6 weeks as a business we have seen great examples of clients and suppliers who have acted empathetically and ethically at a time where there has been so much uncertainty and stress. Companies led by long term-thinking leaders who understand that we are all in this together and the only way out of this is to stick together.

Sadly, it’s also been a real shame to see examples of those who feel the best approach is to become totally incommunicado. “Maybe if I ignore them they will go away”. Wrong. This just makes everything so much worse, right?

This email dropped into our email folder a few weeks ago and it was a real breath of fresh air: a company that felt it important enough to broadcast this out on a Saturday morning. They’ve also taken the opportunity to plug their products. Good, why shouldn’t they.

In our opinion this was a really well thought out, timely and smart piece of reassuring communication. Good job Liquidline!

Good morning All,

I trust you, your family and colleagues are well. Covid 19 has certainly gathered momentum and the extent of the impact is not known for anyone of us. However, here at Liquidline we are embracing this challenge with a positive mindset.

We have a team that are as committed as ever to work together and get through this and it’s this level of working relationship that has helped Liquidline grow significantly since our early beginnings in 2003. For those of you that have worked with us since then or only just more recently we have a message for you:

No 1 Liquidline is in a stable position and we have extensively worked through forecasts and stress tested significant downturn in sales

As I have already said we are approaching this with positivity and believe by working together we can come out of this stronger

We may need support further downline with payment terms but we will speak with you if this is required – in the meantime we are committed to paying you as ever on time

We are doing everything we can to maximise sales and if you have any ideas or insights that you believe may help us I would be delighted to hear from you

We have put together a homeworking coffee pack – that supports the NHS whilst keeping employees feeling loved at home! Maybe this might be something of interest for you and your team?

We look forward to being in touch again soon and meantime keep safe, keep smiling

Kind Regards

Gavin Pooley
Managing Director

Be honest. Be ethical and just COMMUNICATE. If you need extra support the likelihood is that it will be given. Doing nothing causes stress all around. And perhaps most importantly you can guarantee you are going to need help from existing suppliers and customers as we navigate through the recovery period. Any requests are more likely to be positively met if there is mutual respect.

It is currently Business-as-Usual at RR. We already champion flexible working, as such we have the full infrastructure in place to support a full remote switch. This means we can continue to receive new instructions, resource talent and supply the associated support services with no down-time. At this time we feel it important to try and keep recruitment moving and the pipeline of candidates flowing so when the situation passes we have a head-start and you have candidates who are ready to go.

Helping to keep recruitment moving

We’ve invested in the latest video software, designed specifically for the interview process.

Introducing RevView… Our new super-easy one-click video interview solution. No downloads or software required and it works across all devices. We can offer exclusive fully-branded virtual meeting rooms for your company (RevView Live) and branded solo video interviews for candidates (RevView Solo) on a pay-per-vacancy basis with unlimited responses.

Totally flexible with no long tie-ins or price per response.

If you would like us to implement RevView video interviewing into your recruitment process in the short-term please do get in touch, 0800 294 3113 or team@recruitmentrevolution.com.

We live in a digital era, where innovation and advancing technology are common place. If you aren’t keeping candidates engaged during your recruitment process by taking advantage of these factors, you could be losing out on that top tier of applicants.

We all expect speed and efficiency in our modern lives, and the same is true of job applications. Just look at LinkedIn’s one click apply option or even your computer’s ability to auto-fill forms for you. Both of these applications are designed to make the UX as friendly and positive as possible.

According to the Harvard Business review, applicants have started to “ghost” employers, abandoning their applications midway through the process.

So with this ever decreasing attention span, what can you do to ensure that candidates are kept suitably engaged throughout the whole recruitment process?

Well, for starters, let’s take a closer look at what candidate engagement actually means.

What is candidate engagement?

Candidate engagement is an incredibly simple concept, it is you keeping in touch with candidates to ensure that they’re kept in the loop at every stage of the process.

However, it is typically the part of the recruitment process that most employers fail at.

Candidate engagement usually falls under the remit of three areas:

The people. HR and key players who own the recruitment process, as well as the target audience i.e. the candidates themselves.

The process. Knowing how you intend to engage with your candidates and your strategy for ensuring that engagement remains strong throughout.

The technology. There is no shortage of tech in recruitment, so draw on suitable technology to help you implement your candidate engagement strategy, as well as execute it and of course measure it, so that you know what worked and what didn’t for next time.

4 reasons candidate engagement matters during recruitment

The employment rate in the UK is at an all time high. The UK unemployment rate stands at just 3.8% (May 2019) – the lowest level it has been since December 1974. Why does this matter? Because it means today’s job market is a candidate’s market, not an employer’s market.

Candidates aren’t having to compete for the top jobs, instead, companies are having to compete for the top candidates. Winning the war for talent means having to adopt a candidate-focussed approach to recruitment.

But why else do you need to focus on candidate engagement?

You’re not the only company recruiting.

Don’t assume you’re the only company that candidates have applied to work for. A strong candidate for a Senior Digital Project Manager role we are working on cannot confirm a date for a second interview as he has 3 first stage interviews to prepare for, indicating that the job in question might not be his first choice. So, put yourself ahead of the other companies and make sure you’re the company that they would be excited to work for.

It’s all about relationships.

Job hunting isn’t a transactional process, not any more. Nowadays it is reliant on building strong relationships with candidates. And the best way to do that is through engagement.

No longer can you send a blanket email at the start and then leave candidates in the dark; now people expect to be kept informed throughout the whole process, at every step, in fact, they want (and deserve) personalised responses.

Your reputation.

According to a survey by Ideal.com, nearly 60% of job hunters have been treated badly during recruitment at one time or another.

Why does this matter?

In our age of online sharing you are very much on show. Give a candidate a poor experience and you might find yourself with a negative review on Glassdoor which can impact on your ability to hire the talent you want.

More than 60% of job candidates will tell their friends and family about a negative candidate experience. 35% of candidates will share it publicly online.

It reduces your time to fill.

The Dollar Shave Club has said that by implementing a candidate-centric approach and increasing candidate engagement, they have reduced their time to fill by 47%. For AccentCare, their reduction in time to fill equated to 5 days off their average time to fill.

And when the top candidates are only on the market for 10 days, yet the average time to hire is between 14-30 days, you don’t have long to snare those sought after candidates.

So what can you do to ensure you keep candidates happy and onside throughout your recruitment process?

3 easy ways to keep candidates engaged during recruitment

Outsource all or part of the recruitment process or utilise specific technology.

If you’re not already using a managed service, such as Recruitment Revolution, there is a wealth of tech open to you to help you execute an effective candidate engagement strategy.

If you want to make sure you hire the top tier, you need to make candidates WANT to come and work for you. Get them excited from the off, in fact, get them going before they even apply.

Make sure your social channels are up to date and are shouting about you.

Ensure you have a dedicated recruitment page on your website showcasing what you offer employees outside the usual salary, holidays and working hours. Give them unusual perks as well as standard ones: maybe they get their birthday off, or you run a pet friendly office (if space permits), why not sub their discount to a gym, or offer flexible working as standard, or simply just provide free donuts with their morning coffee. Whatever you can do or already do, highlight why you’re putting their needs as your priority.

Make company videos and share them on your social platforms and your website. Include ‘day in the life of’ videos, or what it’s like behind the scenes of your company, showcase the company culture as much as you can.

Host an informal gathering where interested candidates can come and meet the team before hand. You could even show them round their potential new office. Or you might let applicants job shadow for an hour to see what their day to day work requirements look like. One of our London Agency clients offers a ‘Get to know us’ day.

Open communication channels.

It is vital that you maintain open communication channels with candidates throughout the recruitment process. If you aren’t engaging with your candidates, you can rest assured that another company is, and your candidates will get snapped up and out from under your nose.

Plus, if your job is similar to another one, the candidate will be likely to go for the company they feel they have a stronger relationship with.

36% of candidates expect to be kept informed throughout the application process.

41% expect to be told if they aren’t selected after they have interviewed with a company.

However only 26% of employers actually tell candidates what stage of the recruitment process they’re at.

If you want to maintain great comms with candidates throughout, consider including these points in your engagement strategy:

Let candidates know that you have received their application, when applications close and how long after that date they can expect to hear from you.

Tell candidates if they have OR haven’t been successful. Don’t just tell successful candidates and leave the rejected ones in the dark.

Ask rejected candidates if you can add them to your talent pipeline for future opportunities – you don’t want to be throwing away interested applicants just because they weren’t suitable this time around.

Inform candidates what to expect at each stage of recruitment.

Let them know the best ways to contact you, whether that is through social media, email, text or the good old fashioned telephone. And then make sure that those channels are monitored and queries responded to in a timely manner.

Make sure you aren’t bombarding candidates with needless information however, only get in touch when you have something to report, otherwise you’re wasting their time and yours.

And always let candidates know if there are any unforeseen delays, and how long you expect them to impact the recruitment process. Make sure the candidate knows that the delay has nothing to do with them and that you’re still very interested in them.

Conclusion

Maintaining candidate engagement throughout the recruitment process needn’t be complicated, but is absolutely essential to ensure you can secure the best talent whilst maintaining and building your Employer Brand to attract great hires in the future.

The way the recruitment process is handled says a lot about your employer brand. Keeping candidates hanging sends the wrong message.

Reaction time is a key factor when attracting top candidates. A-list applicants usually receive an offer within two weeks. But if your job application process is long and tedious, you might never get the chance.

And passive candidates need timely attention too. Leaving them in limbo while you sort through your process steps could sap their interest in the opportunity. The way the recruitment process is handled says a lot about your business.

Candidates will make judgments of their own. If you keep them in the dark it might be seen as indicative of the company’s management style. Long periods without communications could also suggest your company’s culture is indecisive, slow, non-committal, or perhaps a bit rude.

The longer it takes to complete a hire, the larger the negative impact of leaving that role un-filled, and the less likely it is you’ll convince the best candidates to come onboard. So what can you do?

Optimise the application process

The job application process formally kicks off the moment an opening is recognised by the hiring team.

Day zero is crucial, as the initial discussions and design of the hiring process can have a major impact on your time-to-hire. If you start with gaps and uncertainties, slowdowns and bottlenecks will appear across the whole process.

We’re all under pressure to fill vacancies quickly, but the candidate experience has to be considered from the outset. Sometimes we put too much emphasis on what we want as a hiring organisation, forgetting that on the other side, candidates have expectations of their own. Those blind spots can affect the job application process and undermine your time to hire.

Here are some of the common missteps we see:

Lack of proper upfront planning

Devoting proper planning time to specifying the role, benchmarking the remuneration, and mapping the recruitment process is crucial. The critical skills required have to be identified and agreed, and a sensible estimate has to be made about the time needed to fill the role.

This is when you decide whether the position needs specialised skills or personality assessments, and how long reference checks could take.

The team is time-poor, under-resourced, and biased

Not every hire is the result of expansion, maternity leave, secondments or retirements. Unexpected resignations can take you by surprise and leave little time for planning.

Confirming that every member of the hiring team is available and has capacity during the recruitment process is an important practical step.

If someone on the hiring team doesn’t have time to dedicate themselves fully, they’re best left out. Offer to keep them updated instead.

Placing recruitment in the hands of the wrong team members can also seriously affect your ability to hire.

Recruitment should be treated just like a sales process, where prospective customers are treated with respect and enthusiastically shown the benefits of buying into your product or service. So why put — and excuse us for being blunt — uninspiring, non-PR friendly employees in charge of the recruitment process? Do they have the tools to best represent and promote the business?

You might also consider whether your team member is recruiting to their own agenda or if they genuinely have the company’s best interests at heart. Maybe they see the applicant as a threat?

Your job description isn’t accessible, targeted or realistic

Many recruiters don’t realise the importance of a well-constructed job description. Vagueness and ambiguity will result in either too few applications or masses of unsuitable ones. This justs causes delays, wasting your time and budget. Decide in detail the essential attributes a candidate needs so that you attract the most suitable.

Once you know what you want, only then can you compile a comprehensive job description ensuring your proposition and salary align with the market.

You’re not listing the role on enough channels

Sticking an advert on Indeed and waiting for your inbox to fill up is not the best strategy. Your role needs more exposure and more love to ensure its continuously bringing in new candidates who may not be in just one place.

If you’re looking to attract high-demand specialist skills, generic job boards alone won’t be enough and you need to get your role into more specialised communities.

However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if you spread your advertising net wide you’ll get better results. If you role isn’t specced well-enough or pays below market expectations your budget will quickly evaporate.

Your ATS is a joke

You’ve spent ages with the team choosing the right ATS provider. You’ve been wowed by analytics dashboards and collaborative features, but guess what? You’ve skipped over the most important element: the candidate application process.

How quickly can a candidate apply for a job? How many steps do they need to take? Are you getting “full-on” too soon, e.g. by asking for too much data? And please don’t say you won’t accept CVs, or that candidates need to fill out an application form. Guaranteed fail.

Lengthy and tortuous ATS application forms can be a sure-fire application killer. Asking candidates to pre-register and create detailed profiles and CVs before applying can put them off. This generation of workers expects everything they do online to have the ease and simplicity of their favourite retail site. Its common now to purchase products quickly as a Guest and then have an option to sign-up after the transaction has been completed. Think of your ATS in terms of conversions, not just data capture.

We advise working with providers like Workable, JobAdder, Comeet or even LogicMelon that enable candidates to email their applications directly into the ATS.

Make it easy!

Not tracking progress

If you don’t have an effective tracking system, following the progress of applications isn’t easy. If you have a dashboard system shared across the hiring team you can use it daily to manage the progress of your recruitment drive. Ensure that all members of the hiring team are participating to speed up the process and to avoid overlapping and loss of momentum.

Foreplay before testing. Seriously.

Expecting candidates to complete application tasks and tests before any serious engagement may cost you your Hire. The Googles, Ubers, Apples and Amazons of his world may be able to do this, but for most companies its safest to assume you should treat candidates like customers.

Talk to them first, establish a relationship, talk to them some more, meet them and only then request their participation in your exercises. At this point, if they are serious about you they’ll make the investment. Don’t forget — you might want them more than they want you. Only test when absolutely necessary.

Your screening process is haphazard

When applications start coming in, put time aside to screen them so you can find both the best obvious candidates, and candidates who may have more to offer than their CV alone indicates.

If you identify an excellent applicant, act immediately. Don’t sit on an outstanding CV while you wait for a few more to come in or for the application closing date (which we’re not fans of). Attract and interview on a continuous basis. Remember: treat the candidate like a customer. You wouldn’t delay on a sales lead after all.

Don’t discount or ditch an applicant based on personal assumptions either. Message candidates, talk to them, fact find. Being too narrow in your definition of role suitability can impede your recruitment process.

The best recruiters understand that talent acquisition takes time and the way to find the best people is to speak to as many of them as you can. Great hires have happened because the recruiter was curious, did a bit of digging, and found the candidate had more to offer than was apparent at first glance.

Not staying in touch with shortlisted candidates

Don’t assume that candidates will wait for you or know that they’re still in line for an interview. Once you’ve finalised the shortlist and started scheduling interviews, maintain daily contact with those candidates – at least those who know they’re on the list.

Leaving a candidate hanging can lead to disillusionment. Once that happens they could lose faith or express second thoughts when you finally get back to them. Then you’ll have to win them back.

Update candidates on your progress and give them time estimates of when decisions will be made. If a shortlisted candidate is eliminated, tell them straight away.

Losing them after the offer

We see too many people making candidates wait too long after offer stage. Deciding on the best candidate and offering the job is just the start. Its by no means a dead cert that they’ll immediately say yes — or even that they’ll commence employment after accepting your offer

There may well be follow-on questions, additional asks, or a period of negotiation around remuneration, duties, and start dates. This is no different to the final stages of signing-up a new customer. Once the offer is made you have to stay in regular contact until that final signature is secured and indeed until their first day.

Constant Engagement and early-stage onboarding is crucial to ensure your superstar new candidate is not lured away.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/is-your-job-application-process-scaring-off-talent/feed0Should Tech Companies Look at Older Workers in Their Recruitment Strategy?https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/should-tech-companies-look-at-older-workers-in-their-recruitment-strategy
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/should-tech-companies-look-at-older-workers-in-their-recruitment-strategy#disqus_threadWed, 24 Apr 2019 10:00:34 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=10338Anyone that has worked for marketing agencies or technology companies will know one thing, the average age of the employees is likely to be low. For anyone from a more corporate background, the sight of an office full of twenty-somethings, playing table tennis and sipping on expensive coffees is likely to be a fairly alien environment, but the culture of the modern agency environment is primarily geared towards attracting younger workers and providing an environment that they will feel comfortable in.

There could be a problem with this approach in the long term however. Between 2012 and 2022, 14.5 million people are expected to leave the workforce as they retire, while only 7 million people are expected to enter it. This will cause a skills and resourcing gap that cannot be filled exclusively by young workers and those new to the workplace.

Reliance on Youth

The reliance of technology companies and marketing agencies on younger staff is even more stark when you dig into the numbers, with the average age of employees within the big tech companies ranging from 27 and 28 at AOL and Facebook to 39 at Oracle and HP, with the under 40s clearly driving the way forward in some of the world’s biggest companies.

But with the dawn of a skills shortage crisis on our hands, isn’t it time to look at older workers to help fuel future growth?

Some of Britain’s best-known companies including Barclays, Boots and Aviva are actively seeking to increase the number of over-50s they employ by 12% by 2022, seeking to use people’s transferable skills to fill the increasing gap in resources.

Part of the issue for tech and marketing companies that are seeking to recruit older workers will be in providing an environment that is suitable and desirable. However a lot of this is being done already, with perks such as flexible working and flexible hours already being used to entice workers from newer generations.

Nurturing the Right Environment

It will also involve overcoming some biases in the recruitment process, which were uncovered by a study undertaken by Anglia Ruskin University in 2015. During the study, two sets of CVs were submitted in response to almost 2,000 job adverts. Half of these were from a 28 year old, half from a 50 year old. Both had identical skills and interests, though the 50 year old candidate was four times less likely to be offered an interview.

With a growing skills shortage set to be exacerbated by a reduction in positions being filled by immigration as a result of Brexit, it might be time for smart recruiters to start looking at the role that older workers can play in the success of their organisations.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/should-tech-companies-look-at-older-workers-in-their-recruitment-strategy/feed0How to Reduce Stress in the Digital Workplacehttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/how-to-reduce-stress-in-the-digital-workplace
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/how-to-reduce-stress-in-the-digital-workplace#disqus_threadFri, 12 Apr 2019 16:19:55 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=10258Few would argue that technology has had a detrimental impact on the workplace, with communications tools and platforms now meaning that most office workers can login to their work from wherever they are, increasing productivity and access to information at the touch of a button.

But one area where it may be causing an issue is with workplace stress. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 600,000 people suffered with work related stress, depression or anxiety in 2018, mainly caused by an excessive workload. And with tech and digital start-ups and agencies particularly prone to high workloads and an “always on” work mentality, it is these sectors that can be particularly prone to workplace stress.

According to a separate study, 1 million workers never take a lunch break, which when viewed together with the previous study points to a picture of employees struggling to keep up with the demands of the workplace.

So what can be done to reduce stress in the workplace and create a desirable atmosphere for new recruits that can set you apart and help attract the top talent?

Communication

We’re surrounded by communication tools – email, internal communication platforms, mobile phones, WhatsApp, but none of this can really get to the bottom of an issue like 1 to 1 communication. Tools such as performance reviews and appraisals are increasingly being advertised by recruiters as something that distinguishes companies from their competitors. By giving employees the opportunity to air their grievances and highlight areas that aren’t working properly, it creates a much better working environment. This could be a key area to promote if you’re looking to promote your company to candidates as one that promotes employee wellbeing.

Company Culture

It’s something that is trumpeted by most companies, especially in the marketing and creative sectors, but creating a workplace that people look forward to going to in the morning is crucial for staff wellbeing. Instead of just using it as a recruitment tool, look at how you can inject activities such as summer barbeques and regular socials into the workplace, improving team relationships and giving people the opportunity to let off some steam.

Flexible Working

This is another area that is increasingly being sought by top candidates. The ability to adapt your work life to meet the needs of your personal life is not only hugely practical, it goes a long way towards reducing workplace stress. It should however be carefully managed, as the “always on” mentality can be worse when people are taking their work home, so ensure that people that are working flexibly aren’t doing too much.

Workplace stress is something that affects a lot of people and with the right processes in place, it can not only be reduced but create a working atmosphere that is highly sought after by candidates, helping you fill the positions you have open and reduce the rate of people leaving the company.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/how-to-reduce-stress-in-the-digital-workplace/feed0The Role of Generation Z & Millenials in Technology Recruitmenthttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-role-of-generation-z-millenials-in-technology-recruitment
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-role-of-generation-z-millenials-in-technology-recruitment#disqus_threadMon, 01 Apr 2019 19:50:49 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=10062Firms within the technology sector are generally inclined to be more forward thinking. Being an early adopter is crucial for any company worth its salt when it comes to asking their clients to trust them. But that attitude also needs to extend to the workplace, particularly in recruitment and training, if the business is to appeal to younger candidates.

It’s possible that anyone who doesn’t fall into the millennial age bracket (i.e. anyone not born between 1980 and 1994) is rolling their eyes at the mention of the media’s most maligned demographic. But the fact is, those between 25 and 39 are demanding more from the working experience. The same goes for Generation Z who are now snapping at the millennials’ heels as they prepare to leave education and enter the world of work. So what does technology recruitment need to do in order to attract the brightest of this tech-literate workforce?

Millennials and Gen Z expect more

Millennials and Generation Z expect their working lives to be made easier by technology. Automation and Artificial Intelligence aren’t feared like they are by older workers. Instead of being seen as ‘the robots taking over’ they’re viewed as ways to make mundane tasks easier and work more productive. But it’d be unrealistic to think that just because we’re living in the age of AI every company is equipped with, or even willing to embrace, the latest innovations.

And that’s where the disconnect lies with candidates dropping out of the recruitment process or rejecting job offers as uninspiring experiences and the reality of what the company can offer in terms of technology becomes clear. If this all sounds like the so-called millennial sense of entitlement, bear in mind that recent research found only one in 20 people in the UK are employed in the role they’d envisaged themselves doing. Compare that to 60% plus of millennials being expected to achieve their dream job within six years from now.

How can technology recruitment evolve?

To attract these ambitious and demanding candidates, employers must learn how to engage with them. As discussed the tech industry is more inclined to embrace new trends and is at the forefront of using unorthodox ways to attract younger, more forward thinking recruits. Massages, climbing walls, and bring your dog to work days are fun but businesses need to be wary of employing novelty tactics, instead recognising that traditional benefits such as health insurance, career development, flexible hours and remote working are still prized by the younger generation.

These workers also demand a different relationship with potential employers, and being able to forge a personal connection with a company during the recruitment process will go a long way to convincing top talent to accept an offer. This generation is hyper switched on so this relationship needs to be established across a number of platforms to offer the excellent candidate experience they expect. That means communications must be responsive, and websites, and online job adverts and recruitment apps should be streamlined, attractive and fast. After all, to attract tech savvy employees, one needs to lead by example.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-role-of-generation-z-millenials-in-technology-recruitment/feed0Will There Be a “Brexit Effect” in Professional Recruitment?https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/professional-recruitment-and-the-real-challenges-of-brexit-britain
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/professional-recruitment-and-the-real-challenges-of-brexit-britain#disqus_threadWed, 27 Mar 2019 14:34:12 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9769Whether you’re for it, against it or are sick to the back teeth of the mention of it whichever side you fall on, there’s no getting away from the fact that Brexit is just around the corner. There’s no denying, either, that many industries are concerned about the potential effect Brexit will have on their members of staff who are EU nationals, as well as their ability to fulfil positions in sectors that are facing a UK skills gap.

However, while those fears remain very real for many business owners and managers, recent reports show that organisations are continuing to look for new recruits – albeit a little more hesitantly as the date of our EU exit creeps closer. Furthermore, more job seekers than ever are now turning to recruitment companies to help them find their next career move.

It’s clear the job market isn’t grinding to a halt, but what does it mean for the stability of that same market come March 29th as we enter post-Brexit Britain?

Will UK businesses still hire EU staff?

At the moment 25% of businesses in the UK have staff from the EU on their payroll. But a survey taken in August of last year shows that after Brexit, more than half of our business owners or managers are reluctant to employ staff who hail from an EU country due to pending changes in the UK’s immigration laws.

As of the 1st of July 2021, EU nationals, plus any family members who reside with them, must hold, or have applied for, UK immigration status in order to work here legally. Clearly this could affect the number of EU nationals who apply for UK jobs creating a real headache for HR departments, managers and professional recruitment firms.

How can UK businesses attract and retain top talent?

With the pool of talented candidates diminishing, UK firms will need to play the long game when it comes to attracting top recruits. For example, would your company be able to absorb the additional time and resources needed to recruit that perfect candidate who just so happens to be French and living in Paris? Or would you be better off focusing on recruits in the UK?

If your recruitment strategy is likely to be UK-centric try teaming up with a professional recruitment agency and/or local colleges and schools to gain access to the youngest and brightest talent the country has to offer. Or, if you’re struggling to find that outstanding candidate who possesses both specialised skills and experience, don’t forget that a whole world exists outside of the EU! Who knows, a recruiter may well be able to find you the perfect person anywhere from Botswana to Brazil.

Finally, you may be running out of time but if you still have valued employees who are EU nationals, you really should be doing all you can to ensure they understand their rights and know what to do to increase their chances of being able to stay in the UK after we leave.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/professional-recruitment-and-the-real-challenges-of-brexit-britain/feed03 Remarkable Achievements of the Unsung Herohttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/3-remarkable-achievements-of-the-unsung-hero
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/3-remarkable-achievements-of-the-unsung-hero#disqus_threadMon, 11 Mar 2019 15:55:34 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9916Every business has them but for the majority of the time, their extraordinary efforts go unnoticed. The unsung hero plays a huge role in the success of every company but so often their efforts can be taken for granted and the acclaim they so clearly deserve goes begging.

To illustrate this point, many of the tools and technologies that we take for granted today have been dreamt up or developed by people that we’ve never even heard of. From the email systems that we use or the social networks that we engage with daily, everything around us has at some level been developed by people that simply haven’t received the acclaim they deserve.

So what are some of the most noteworthy products that we use in our everyday lives that have been created by these internal geniuses?

Gmail

Gmail is now one of the most popular email platforms in the world, with over 1.5 billion active users around the world. It is used by both individuals and companies alike and is one of the most recognisable tech products ever created. But do you know who created it?

Gmail was originally a side project of the bigger Google Groups project and was actually created in a single day by Google developer Paul Buchheit, who used much of the existing code from Google Groups to create this new email platform.

Its unique selling point was that it answered a very big demand for search given the volume of emails that were sent internally at Google and as a result, was launched with a market leading 1GB of space, compared with the 3 or 4MB of space offered by competitors at the time.

It was also built with speed and usability in mind, using a new AJAX language to load emails more quickly than their competitors.

Since its launch, it overtook competitors Hotmail and Yahoo Mail to be the most widely used email platform in the world and even one of the most popular websites in the United States. Not bad for a side project.

Twitter

Ever heard of Odeo? Or Jack Dorsey? Noah Glass or Biz Stone? That’s fairly understandable, as who really notices the work of the humble developer?

While Twitter is now a worldwide phenomenon, shaping how we interact and even shaping the way politics works, it began as a side project idea, dreamed up at an internal hackathon at the podcasting company Odeo.

The aim was to create a product where people could communicate through an SMS style interface to a group of people. Simple in concept but from its launch in 2006 to 2012 it had picked up more than 100 million users who were posing 340 million tweets per day.

The Post-it Note

Not every great breakthrough has to be connected to the internet, and so it was proven in 1974 when scientist Art Fry came up with the humble post-it note for the company 3M. He simply took an adhesive that was created by a colleague and applied it to the back of a piece of paper to keep his place in the church hymn book. It is now a fixture of most offices in the world.

What is remarkable about this and all of these stories though isn’t necessarily the humble post-it note. Or Gmail. Or Twitter. It is that all of these were created as side projects. From the Google Groups product that spawned Gmail, or the hackathon that spawned Twitter. Or the “15 percent time” program at 3M that spawned the post-it note (not to mention the more than 22,800 patents that this programme is responsible for many of) that generates more than $20 billion in annual sales.

This shows that by hiring the right people and giving them the room to explore and innovate in a secure environment, companies can create the environment for unsung heroes to be born.

RecruitmentRevolution is proud to have sponsored the Unsung Hero award at this year’s Onrec Awards. These awards are a great opportunity to recognise the unsung heroes in every company and even if it might not always lead to a billion dollar concept, they are changing and improving the workplace for businesses around the country.

We would like to congratulate this year’s winner, Beverly Shaw from ClickIQ and also pay tribute to all of the finalists for having shown the skills and abilities that make them true unsung heroes. We’re delighted to have played a role in giving you the recognition that you clearly deserve.

Please join us in recognising the unsung heroes in your workplace, and adopt and develop a recruitment strategy and environment that will nurture your own heroes.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/3-remarkable-achievements-of-the-unsung-hero/feed0How to Unearth the Unsung Heroes in Your Workplacehttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/how-to-unearth-the-unsung-heroes-in-your-workplace
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/how-to-unearth-the-unsung-heroes-in-your-workplace#disqus_threadWed, 06 Mar 2019 19:49:15 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9872We all know what heroes look like. Draped in a colourful cape with an extravagant mask, your hero will be instantly recognisable, drawing attention to themselves with the very public displays of success in the workplace. They might have bagged the most sales in the calendar year (hurrah!) or negotiated a huge contract extension with a major client (hooray!).

It’s easy to spot and recognise those that are on the front line and making very public contributions to the success of the company. They will tend to hold senior roles and will be the focus of any significant projects, holding the reigns and taking ultimate responsibility for the success of failure of a specific area of the business.

And while they are holding the reigns and taking the applause, it’s important not to forget the work horses that go unnoticed in the background. Those that have made sacrifices and given everything while not necessarily holding the spotlight. These are the enablers, those that it would be impossible to succeed without but who may get left out while the congratulatory back slapping is taking place.

So how do you unearth the unsung heroes in your workplace? Here are some common traits you can look for:

Humility

This trait is the one that makes your unsung hero hard to spot. They will rarely draw attention to themselves and if praise comes their way, they will often deflect it onto the wider team or other individuals. They might not want a huge fuss to be made, but make sure that they know they are appreciated. It is these secret stars that may be the first to the exit door if they start to feel disenfranchised or taken advantage of, so make sure you know how each member of your team would prefer to be recognised.

Just because they’re sharing the credit, it doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of receiving it.

Committed to the Cause

Your hero will be sending emails at midnight, and ensure that anyone important is copied in for good measure. Your hero will be the last one out and the first one in to the office. They will have their sleeves rolled up and will have people bringing them coffee and food all day, so busy are they that they cannot leave their desks. Great! But this isn’t how everyone shows commitment.

What about the person that has moved their children’s’ nursery days around to make sure that they can be there on deadline day? What about the person that has been so organised that the work seems to have been done as if by magic while everyone else is visibly battling to get it all done? How about the person that stands to lose their holiday allowance because they have come to work during a busy period, knowing that they will be needed?

Commitment doesn’t always have to be visible. It’s often the “swans” in your organisation that seem visibly calm but that are kicking hard under the surface that you need to pay particular attention to.

Consistency

When you go into that important meeting, the agenda is all there. The coffees have been ordered. Attention has been paid to the client’s dietary requirements when the lunch is brought through. Your presentation is already there and waiting on the screen to avoid the obligatory half an hour of fighting with technology before you can begin. But how did all of this happen?

If there is someone on your team that is thinking ahead, being proactive and anticipating the needs and requirements of the business without being asked, it’s easy to take advantage of that and expect it to be the norm. In reality, if this person left then so would these elements that are all too easily taken for granted. They are your professional edge. They add the sleek, effortless vision to your brand and business that other people will notice, even if you don’t.

If there’s someone like this in your organisation, it’s a skill that’s impossible to train, so make sure that they don’t go unnoticed.

At RecruitmentRevolution, we’re proud to be helping to honour these heroes of the workplace by sponsoring the Unsung Hero of the Year Award 2019 at the The 2019 Onrec Awards on 7th March.

If you have an unsung hero in your organisation, why not nominate them for an award next year? Even if you don’t, make sure that you operate culture of recognition and know how to unearth the hidden stars within your business.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/how-to-unearth-the-unsung-heroes-in-your-workplace/feed0Tech Recruitment – How to Recruit for Non-Tech Roles Within a Hi-Tech Environmenthttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/tech-recruitment-how-to-recruit-for-non-tech-roles-within-a-hi-tech-environment
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/tech-recruitment-how-to-recruit-for-non-tech-roles-within-a-hi-tech-environment#disqus_threadFri, 22 Feb 2019 17:30:12 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9726Big technology firms from the US setting-up in the UK is nothing new. But as these giants such as Apple, Google and Salesforce start to mature as organisations, it seems that the type of employees that they are looking for are moving away from the hands-on tech side to business support roles such as account and operations management, project management and marketing.

For internal recruiters within these firms, it can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to finding the right people to fill these roles. When support teams are hired in other more established sectors, it can be fairly straightforward to find someone that has similar experience. But when your company has created a tool or a platform that is unique, how do you find the people with the right skills to the table and succeed in the role?

Mind the (Language) Gap

One of the biggest challenges faced when recruiting into technology companies, especially within roles that span operational and customer facing such as account management, is finding someone that can understand and communicate the value of the technology to a wider audience. In essence, you will be looking for a translator that can stand between technology teams and non-technology personnel and be able to use the right skills and abilities to successfully communicate between the two.

The key to this is in finding people with the right transferable skills and core ability to meet the requirements within your job role. Is the priority client communication? Then prioritise this and include product training at the heart of your onboarding process. Does an operations management role involve a level of wider business communication? Then finding someone that has prior experience as a tech project lead that can clearly communicate effectively with development teams and make this information clear at board level is going to be a prime asset.

Transferable Skills

Finding people that might be from different industries but may have skills that can be carried across is also a good way to approach hiring your support teams. If you’re looking for superstar marketers, those within agencies may have hands-on experience of working with numerous technology companies around the world, and with agencies not being the best paid places to work for junior to mid weight roles, many could be enticed to make the move in-house with the generally higher salaries paid by tech companies.

Ultimately, hiring within a technology company is much like recruiting within any sector. There will always be a learning curve and by creating a job specification that specifically lays out the demands, duties and deliverables of the candidate, you should manage to find people with the right core competencies to bring to the table. If they have a proven ability to deliver in other similar roles, ensure your internal training procedures are stringent and you’ll find that you can promote your role to a much wider audience than you expected.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/tech-recruitment-how-to-recruit-for-non-tech-roles-within-a-hi-tech-environment/feed0The Evolution of the Role of the CMO in Marketing Recruitmenthttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-evolution-of-the-role-of-the-cmo-in-marketing-recruitment
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-evolution-of-the-role-of-the-cmo-in-marketing-recruitment#disqus_threadMon, 04 Feb 2019 10:46:07 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9679Chief Marketing Officer is a relatively new job title having made its workplace debut during the 1980s. However the decade of power dressing and giant mobile phones is long gone and the very nature of marketing has changed drastically. That’s thanks in part to technology and digitalisation – but if marketing itself has changed, surely that means that the role of the CMO has evolved too? What does that mean for those working in marketing recruitment? Is it time to redefine the role of the CMO?

While some companies may begrudingly hire a CMO, not really understanding the role that they play and viewing marketing as an abstract concept, more forward-thinking organisations recognise the need for CMOs to play a broader part, embracing all aspects of the business.

What Does the CMO Do?

Traditionally a Chief Marketing Officer’s role included advertising, market research and brand management, however these days the position is more fluid and far more likely to encompass everything from implementing social media campaigns, managing digital marketing efforts, and public relations. The CMO’s role has broadened largely due to the way the internet has changed the way consumers research, search for, and purchase products and services. We are no longer customers in the traditional sense: we demand more from our providers or vendors – and the CMO needs to understand and adapt to that.

A CMO needs to place more emphasis on connecting with customers in an emotional context – these days we expect our brands to be more than just an outlet for making a transaction: we want to be engaged, we want to buy from companies that make time for us, who offer us products, ethics and back stories that we can connect with. We want to be looked after! A good CMO will understand that – and, more importantly, know how to execute a strategy that converts that emotional connection into sales.

Employers are increasingly asking their CMOs to widen their skill sets and adopt a company-wide reach. Drawing up a marketing plan is no longer enough: today’s Chief Marketing Officer is expected to drive revenue across the entire organisation by working with all departments to approach customers from every angle. Not surprisingly, this means that data, particularly data concerning customer behaviour, is of huge importance when it comes to empowering CMOs to make decisions.

How to Recruit the Perfect CMO

However, one common complaint voiced by CMOs is that, despite their efforts, they frequently find it difficult to justify their worth. The Chief Financial Officer, for example, may struggle to see the correlation between marketing and financial performance. This means that those working in marketing recruitment need to be looking for candidates who not only possess traditional marketing skills, but who are also tech-savvy, have excellent research skills, a keen understanding of data and analytics, and who can empathise with the business’s customers. CMOs can no longer hide in the the marketing department devising strategies; they need to be visible and willing to instigate change throughout the organisation by inspiring all departments to put the customer at the centre of everything they do. This will help create a positive experience for anyone who interacts with, and therefore (hopefully) purchases from, their business.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-evolution-of-the-role-of-the-cmo-in-marketing-recruitment/feed0The Importance of GDPR Skills in IT Recruitmenthttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-importance-of-gdpr-skills-in-it-recruitment
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-importance-of-gdpr-skills-in-it-recruitment#disqus_threadThu, 17 Jan 2019 12:13:58 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9469Since May 2018 organisations have needed to comply with GDPR regulations. And with GDPR compliance generally being viewed as the IT department’s responsibility due to the technical nature of data protection, how is this going to affect IT recruitment and the skills that personnel are now required to have?

At its core GDPR is about you protecting the personal data you keep on any individual within the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also covers the export of this data to outside of the EU and EEA. It’s a big job, but do your current employees have the knowledge to ensure your business doesn’t fall foul of a data breach?

Allocating Responsibilities

For larger businesses that’s where a Data Protection Officer (DPO) comes in. If you store, or process, large quantities of personal data, or you’re a public organisation, you’re required to hire a DPO to develop and maintain your data protection policies. However, if you’re a small to medium sized enterprise, you probably don’t feel the need (and may not have the budget) to hire one of these so-called ‘security leaders’.

That means the responsibility for ensuring that your company is GDPR compliant may well fall upon a number of different shoulders; across different departments even. The GDPR affects every corner of your business, from marketing to training to human resources. It’s therefore necessary that you have someone who is responsible for overseeing your GDPR compliance and ensuring it’s implemented across your organisation.

The likelihood though, is that ultimately the actual footwork relating to implementing GDPR compliance will fall to your IT manager or department. And that may mean you need to start hiring applicants with softer skill sets for your IT team. Of course you’ll still need them to have the technical experience that’s relevant to their role within your company but there are a number of other competences you should now be asking of your candidates.

Filling Your Internal Skills Gap

These may possibly be skills not traditionally associated with typical candidates within IT recruitment such as good communication: part of their role will be explaining to the rest of the company how data privacy works, what your policies are and what other departments need to do to remain compliant.

Chances are your tech candidates are already of a logical mindset but will they be able to define and write those very data privacy policies that they need to explain and enforce? They’ll also need analytical skills for dealing with GDPR related reports and, as well as the obvious need for them to be well versed in traditional IT tasks, they should also have experience in cyber security. Last but not least do they have a thorough understanding of the GDPR law itself?

When it comes to the crunch, in this post-GDPR era, knowing how to fix the printer and reboot the server is no longer enough: your IT recruits need to be able to maintain your – and your clients, users and employees’ – privacy within the confines of this law.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-importance-of-gdpr-skills-in-it-recruitment/feed0The Challenges Facing Digital Recruitment Outside Londonhttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-challenges-facing-digital-recruitment-outside-london
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-challenges-facing-digital-recruitment-outside-london#disqus_threadThu, 03 Jan 2019 12:33:53 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9338Overpriced housing, crowded commutes and pollution are just three of the woes facing those who work in London. Which is why a not-inconsiderable number of people – 93,000 between 2015 and 2016 in fact – are choosing to relocate to cheaper, less frenetic parts of the country. The Midlands and north in particular have seen an exodus of former capital dwellers arrive with cities such as Leeds, Liverpool and Coventry seeing an influx of stressed out workers looking to make a new, and more affordable, life for themselves.

So it stands to reason that companies are following suit as they too realise that there are financial benefits to be had by basing themselves outside the M25 ring road, especially hi-tech companies and start-ups that could do without the high costs. But what is the knock-on effect for these companies and in particular those those involved within digital recruitment?

Making the Move

Thanks to the very nature of the technology industry: young, innovative and more inclined to embrace change, many companies, from start-ups to more established organisations, have been at the forefront of this, quite literal, movement. And while many businesses are choosing to remain in the capital or the south east, which has traditionally been regarded as the UK’s Silicon Valley, those that have moved are enjoying paying cheaper rents and salaries. However it’s not all good news for these pioneers as there’s a downside to making the move, especially when it comes to technology recruitment.

Already dealing with challenges such as a lack of funding for start-ups and suitable office space for larger firms, some businesses in the tech sector are finding it harder than they initially thought to grow outside London. With regards to recruitment the main issue is the shortage of proven talent that can contribute to the success of a company, as well as fewer mentors who are established within the sector and who can help to develop a team.

Plus it’s not just developers and coders who are in high demand. Digital recruitment insiders say CTOs (Chief Technology Officers), CPOs (Chief Procurement Officers) and CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) are also in short supply. Companies that have managed to attract valuable team members are often hiring employees who are slightly older and thinking about starting a family and who have found themselves priced out of the capital.

Wage Alignment

In addition businesses looking to lure senior level staff away from London are facing barriers with lowering salary expectations with many potential recruits expecting a wage that is more inline with what they were earning down south. Of course the argument is that the cost of living in, say, Birmingham or Cardiff is a lot less than the capital but potential recruits are often psychologically unable to get over this.

One way to overcome this problem is to recruit graduates before they head to London, although that doesn’t solve the issue of finding talented AND experienced employees and mentors. In conclusion, there are definitely opportunities for the tech sector outside London but it may still be a while before the conditions are quite right for it to truly thrive.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/the-challenges-facing-digital-recruitment-outside-london/feed0Do You Have a Policy on “Side Hustles” in Technology Recruitment?https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/do-you-have-a-policy-on-side-hustles-in-technology-recruitment
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/do-you-have-a-policy-on-side-hustles-in-technology-recruitment#disqus_threadThu, 20 Dec 2018 11:20:47 +0000https://www.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9333The traditional technology employment contract often includes a clause forbidding staff to work another job outside their main employment. But thanks to the burgeoning gig economy many industries are finding that employees are asking to work, or indeed are already working on, a ‘side hustle’.

The technology sector in particular has found that a combination of the shortage of talent and the growing interest in, or financial need for, a second job has meant it’s under pressure to accept the side hustle. Indeed many forward-thinking companies have embraced it and offer the ability to work ‘on the side’ as a perk of the job in order to attract the best people to their organisation.

So is insisting that your employees are yours and yours alone out of date? Does your business or technology recruitment agency need to rethink your policy on the employee being solely committed to their contracted role?

Nurture Your Employees’ Bit on The Side

Research from Henley Business School showed that one in four people are currently operating a side gig in addition to their main job. So how does that affect you as a manager, business owner or recruiter?

It makes sense that companies worry about employees working on their own tasks during office hours, burn out, or a conflict of interest. But progressive organisations are proving they’re actually benefiting from the additional experience their employees are providing thanks to their side gigs.

When an employee is gaining deeper insight into their field, be it e-commerce, social media marketing, or website development their full-time company benefits from the knock-on effect. And with 69% of hustlers saying their gig makes life more interesting, it means they’re happier and more fulfilled – resulting in a positive effect on their performance and engagement in the workplace.

So if the side hustle isn’t going anywhere, what are the implications for HR and technology recruitment?

Time to Talk

With research showing that 49% of companies don’t have a ‘side hustle policy’, the dialogue needs to be started. Any policy needs to protect both employees and employers: staff need to know that they must pursue their outside work with integrity and in a way that will not impact upon their day job. On the other hand employers need to be open to more flexibility in this area.

After all, replacing employees, especially talented ones, is expensive. And advertising the fact you allow staff to participate in the gig economy when hiring can be a great way of attracting and retaining top talent. That especially goes for IT recruitment.

In fact, it could play a major part in weeding out great candidates: you’re looking for a trainer and you interview a recruit who teaches French to kids at the weekend. Chances are he’s got the patience and communication skills you’re looking for. Want someone to play a proactive role in driving your online sales? That girl who runs a thriving Etsy store could have the knowledge you’re looking for. The moral of the story? By refusing to hire new recruits who are running their own enterprises, you could be denying your business of valuable assets.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/do-you-have-a-policy-on-side-hustles-in-technology-recruitment/feed0Recruitment for Modern Marketing Skills in 2019https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/recruitment-for-modern-marketing-skills-in-2019
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/recruitment-for-modern-marketing-skills-in-2019#disqus_threadFri, 07 Dec 2018 00:00:11 +0000https://dev.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9065“Ding dong, Avon calling!” It’s a marketing slogan that’s still familiar to many of us today, but Avon have admitted that despite their strong brand recognition the company has ‘lost its way’. Facing stiff competition from cosmetic giants such as L’Oreal, and with the way people shop for beauty products changing, Avon have had to come up with a plan. And that includes a rebranding of their offering, the adoption of apps and interactive platforms, and the re-training of its door-to-door sales reps. Yes, the ‘Avon Lady’ is about to become an Influencer.

Avon wants to appeal to the so-called ‘Instagram Generation’ which is why they’re planning to train up to one million of their six million strong sales team on how to use their new platforms. But despite them embracing change in order to reach a new, younger client, somewhat surprisingly comes the news that traditional advertising, i.e. print and radio, is on the rise after being long overlooked by marketers in favour of digital strategies. So what does that mean when it comes to marketing recruitment.

If you’re recruiting for your marketing team or agency, should you be looking for employees whose skills lie in the ‘new media’ camp or should you be once more turning to people with ‘old school’ talents such as branding and offline marketing?

Choosing Where to Invest

Consider this: while many of us waste too much time scrolling through our Instagram feed, data shows people are actually spending less time on social media and are leaving platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat in droves. Conversely, last year print advertising revenue increased for the first time in seven years. Radio and television advertising saw similar growth. But why? What has sparked this change and how could it affect your marketing recruitment strategy?

There are a number of factors but as people leave social media, the supply and demand ratio changes and it becomes more costly for advertisers to engage with potential customers. Trust is also a big issue: hardly a day goes by when fake news, fake accounts and data breaches don’t hit the headlines, meaning people trust online advertising less.

Channel Integration

However a huge amount of users still turn to the internet to find product or service information, and to make that all important purchase. Clearly ignoring a digital advertising strategy would be perilous but thanks to this swing back in favour of traditional advertising, you need to look at utilising both offline and online channels when it comes to marketing.

It’s crucial that your marketing team understands the need to integrate your online and offline strategies in order for you to create cohesive campaigns that work across the board and enable potential clients to engage with your offering no matter whether they’re reading the local newspaper or surfing the web. Take a look at your marketing people today – are there gaps? Have you eschewed more traditional skills for digital ones? If so it could be time to revisit your strategy and consider hiring someone who has the skills to help you grow your organisation via those forgotten channels that are once again bringing in business.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/recruitment-for-modern-marketing-skills-in-2019/feed0What Does Increasing Wages Mean for Technology Recruitment?https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/what-does-increasing-wages-mean-for-technology-recruitment
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/what-does-increasing-wages-mean-for-technology-recruitment#disqus_threadFri, 30 Nov 2018 00:00:21 +0000https://dev.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/?p=9058What do puppies, massages and climbing walls all have in common? Give up? They’re all ways in which companies are trying to lure top talent to work for them. Yes, having dogs running around the office sounds a little unorthodox, and trying to discuss an issue with colleagues while they’re dangling from a rope six feet in the air sounds downright annoying, but organisations are doing all they can to stand out from the crowd when it comes to recruitment. One of the reasons for this is that wages are expected to increase in the UK by around £20 per week in 2019, and employers are trying to find less costly ways to attract staff.

This is especially true in the technology sector where there is high demand and low supply. So what can employers do? Bite the bullet and offer higher wages? Recruit less experienced staff and train them? Or offer unique, even outlandish, benefits?

Meaningful Perks

The important thing to consider when you’re hiring new staff is how meaningful the perks you’re offering actually are to potential employees. While the idea of being able to grab a massage at work might look pretty cool in your job ad, experts in technology recruitment found that “hipster” benefits had little impact on either the speed it took to fill roles, or the quality of the candidates that applied for them.

Research showed that instead more traditional benefits such as leave, health insurance, career development, and financial incentives were still more highly valued than any amount of quirky perks. That all-important work-life balance also featured highly as factors such as flexible hours and the ability to work remotely, as well as leave for caregivers or parents, are also highly prized by those seeking work in the IT industry.

Skills Shortage

But while you may be offering the greatest package to new recruits, when it comes to technology recruitment, the real issue is the skills shortage in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) area. There simply aren’t enough people to fill the jobs created by the UK’s burgeoning tech sector and the increasing automation of once-traditional job roles. There’s no solution in sight either thanks to 142,000 new STEM jobs being anticipated by 2023 and the number of students enrolling in university to study these subjects being a lot lower.

So what does this mean for companies who are struggling to fill crucial roles while wages are continuing to rise? Potentially it means chaos as they struggle to find talented employees that will help them maintain a competitive edge. And while the impact of Brexit is not yet certain, many businesses fear the problem will only be exacerbated as talented employees either leave the UK, or are deterred from coming here in the first place.

What is clear is that employers of all sizes should take steps to plug the gaps sooner rather than later by looking to retrain and retain older staff while recruiting talented people that can help them stabilise and grow their business in the uncertain, and more costly, months, years and possibly decades ahead.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/what-does-increasing-wages-mean-for-technology-recruitment/feed0Digital Recruitment – How to Recruit the Right Positions in a Digital Businesshttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/digital-recruitment-how-to-recruit-the-right-positions-in-a-digital-business
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Data released by Companies House shows there were fewer new businesses started in 2017 than the previous year. However, research shows that this hasn’t affected technology firms – in fact the number of new tech start-ups increased by 60% last year. To put it another way, a staggering 10,016 programming and software development businesses were launched in the UK in 2017.

Of course, an organisation is only as good as its people so when it comes to digital recruitment, which roles should these businesses be aiming to fulfil? Within the tech sphere certain job roles are seeing a huge increase in popularity, including that of the relatively new Chief Revenue Officer. The CRO’s main function is to combine marketing and sales; no longer is marketing purely about brand awareness, it’s now also about driving profit.

Balancing Marketing and Revenue

A CRO may come from a sales background but they will also be expected to excel in areas such as scaling and developing the business, engaging customers, account management, and marketing. However, finding a talented Chief Revenue Officer can be tricky and if you’re thinking of hiring one you need to ensure you recruit someone who understands the very core of your organisation, particularly in relation to growth.

Today another important role within many businesses is that of Front End Developer. This is due to factors such as the need to become digitalised and combat the growing threat of cyber attacks. As more companies automate and staff use multiple digital devices to conduct their work, businesses are increasingly vulnerable to risks. Risks such as data theft, phishing and viruses. Risks that can have a severe impact on operations and reputation.

Digital Transformation

But what effect does digital transformation have on more established businesses? Are these organisations seeing an increase in new roles? It’s likely, as digital transformation and cloud migration are both areas in which older companies are beginning to adapt, realising that the cloud offers more security and convenience and digital transformation is a must in order to remain relevant in this rapidly shifting environment.

To back up this theory, The European Commission recently published a study showing that digital skills are a necessity in all workplaces, even those not traditionally seen as ‘technological’. These days, whether your industry is construction, healthcare, manufacture or farming, technology will play a part in your operations. Indeed basic tech skills are normally a requirement for businesses of all sizes and across all sectors. According to the report, 38% of workplaces stated a lack of digital skills had a negative impact on performance with a loss of productivity and customers being two of the main issues.

So how should you ensure your business is future proof? By implementing a digital recruitment plan and recruiting skilled individuals. But thanks to the skills gap and high demand for developers and CROs you first need to demonstrate that you’re a truly great company to work for. Industry experts also advise collaborating with a recruitment consultant to ensure that the person you hire is adaptable enough to change with the constantly shifting dynamic of today’s technologically advanced workplace.

]]>https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/digital-recruitment-how-to-recruit-the-right-positions-in-a-digital-business/feed0Why you shouldn’t aim for a perfect number of candidates when hiringhttps://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/why-you-shouldnt-aim-for-a-perfect-number-of-candidates-when-hiring
https://www.recruitmentrevolution.com/why-you-shouldnt-aim-for-a-perfect-number-of-candidates-when-hiring#disqus_threadMon, 22 Oct 2018 23:00:00 +0000https://dev.recruitmentrevolution.localhost/2018/10/23/why-you-shouldnt-aim-for-a-perfect-number-of-candidates-when-hiring/

Getting the perfect bank of candidates to interview for a role is a science that takes a lot of mastering. There are so many factors that take in deciding who to interview, that numbers are a almost a little irrelevant.

Do all suitable candidates deserve an interview?

The answer is probably yes, however operationally for your business this isn’t the most practical decision. Bringing that many people in to interview takes time that you may now have. It’s not just the interviews that will take the time, but discussing and debating candidates isn’t an easy or quick job either. On top of this, it’s vital to give candidates a good recruitment experience, including feedback to manage their expectations which isn’t an easy task at all.

Narrowing down these suitable candidates to a number would almost be impossible. There are so many factors that come in to choosing your perfect candidate, there are no strict rules about the interview process or how many you should shortlist.

Try telephone interviews to narrow down your list

There are quite a few different factors when it comes to shortlisting candidates for interview, like how many people actually applied for the job and how many positions you have available. Telephone interviews can give you a good idea of the personality of your potential candidate, as well as give you the opportunity to discuss salary expectations and other deciding factors about the hire.

Be patient

Hiring quickly is never the perfect aim to have. You need to hire patently and effectively as that will make sure you don’t have to re-hire for the role in the near future! The more people you want to interview, the more time it will take so try and find the balance between the two!

All in all, it’s never a good idea to focus purely on how many people you want to interview. There are so many other factors in narrowing down your candidates that the number you interview isn’t the be-all and end-all, it’s the quality of the candidates that matters. A recruitment firm are able to narrow people down for you, saving you time and effort in recruiting and leaving you to interview a group of ideal candidates for your role!